Board Of Regents To Ohio Colleges: Ban Tobacco On Campus

Miami University in Oxford, Ohio already bans smoking on all parts of campus. The University of Toledo has similar rules, but allows students and staff to smoke in a few designated "butt huts."(Photo: Raul Lieberwirth / Flickr)

Miami University in Oxford, Ohio already bans smoking on all parts of campus. The University of Toledo has similar rules, but allows students and staff to smoke in a few designated "butt huts."(Photo: Raul Lieberwirth / Flickr)

Ohio higher education officials have voted unanimously to urge the state’s public campuses to ban use of all tobacco products, both indoors and outdoors.
The Ohio Board of Regents’ resolution approved Monday comes after a review showed such policies help both smokers and nonsmokers and cut costs for education institutions.

The recommendation will touch all campuses, including Ohio State, one of the nation’s largest universities. It currently bans only indoor smoking.

The Ohio Department of Health has prepared tool kits for universities and colleges to help them implement tobacco-free policies, though the decision will ultimately be up to each institution’s board of trustees.

Bans on the use, advertising and sales of tobacco are increasingly being enacted or considered nationwide, sometimes over the objections of student smokers, staff and faculty.